A Statewide Movement 

FOR THE 

Collection ana 
Preservation of 

*opy 1 ^ 

JVl 1 n nesota s 
vvar Records 




BULLETIN NUMBER ONE 



Minnesota War Records Commission 
SAINT PAUL. DECEMBER 1. 1918 



Qllecied set; 



A Statewide JVlovement 

FOR THE 

Collection and 
Preservation of 
M 1 n nesota s 
AVar Records 




BULLETIN NUMBER ONE 



Minnesota War Records Commissioit 
" SAINT PAUL. DECEMBER 1. 1918 



IVIINNESOTA WAR RECORDS COMMIS- 
SION, ^s'ij^ 

Dr. Solon J. Buck, superintendent of the 
Minnesota Historical Society, Saint Paul, 
chairman. 

Dr. Eugene W. Bohannon, president of the 
State Normal School, Duluth. 

Mrs. Marie Brick, librarian, Public Library, 
•Saint Cloud. 

Bev. William Busch, professor of church 
history. Saint Paul Seminary, Saint Paul. 

Charles W. Henke, publicity director, Min- 
nesota Commission of Public Safety, Saint 
Paul. 

Dr. John D. Hicks, professor of history, 
Hamline University, Saint Paul. 

Hon. Gideon S. Ives, president of the Min- 
nesota Historical Society, Saint Paul. 

Herschel V. Jones, publisher of the Journal, 
Minneapolis, 

Gustaf Lindquist, the governor's secretary. 
Saint Paul. 

Adjutant General Walter F. Rhinow, Saint 
Paul. 

Dr. Lester B. Shippee, professor of Ameri- 
can history. University of Minnesota, Min- 
neapolis. 

Willis M. West, historian, Grand Rapids. 



Franklin F. Holbrook, Historical Building, 
•Saint Paul, director. 

n 






MINNESOTA'S WAR HISTORY. 

A great task as well as a great opportu- 
nity will confront the future historian of 
this state when he comes to tell the full 
story of Minnesota's participation in the 
World War: how she played her part among 
the free peoples of the world in the fight for 
world freedom; how she furnished thou- 
sands of her sons to the fighting forces of 
the nation and how these men conducted 
themselves and what they experienced in 
camp, at sea, and on the field of battle; 
how she stood for loyalty at home and sup- 
pressed the Hun within her gates; how she 
readjusted her whole course of life, giving 
abundantly of her means, her substance, her 
thought, her time, her strength, her prayers, 
sacrificing luxuries and making spare use of 
the necessities of life, and, forgetting all 
petty rivalries, united in efforts put forth 
for the winning of the war, for the welfare 
of the fighters, and for the relief of war- 
stricken peoples; and how in other and less 
obvious ways the war altered the direction 
and character of her normal interests and 
pursuits. 

Such a story will constitute a unique and 
important chapter in the history of our 
state. It will be of interest not only to 

.^ 3V 



coming generations of Minnesotans, but also 
to us who have lived and worked in these 
stirring times, conscious that we were help- 
ing in the accomplishment of great things, 
but too intent upon the performance of our 
own special and more or less limited tasks 
to take a comprehensive view of the course 
of events in our state, and perhaps even in 
our own localities. 

Our War History Materials Should 
Be Gathered Now. 

But if Minnesota's war history is to re- 
cord adequately the achievements of which 
Minnesotans are justly so proud, steps must 
be taken, and taken at once, to gather so 
far as possible into public depositories, and 
at least to ensure the preservation of, the 
data, the records, and the relics which will 
be needed for the production of that history 
and which in themselves will be increas- 
ingly treasured mementoes of the unprece- 
dented happenings of the days just passing. 
The governments of the European nations 
involved in the great conflict, from the very 
beginning and while actually carrying on 
the struggle, have made provision for the 
immediate and systematic building up of 
war libraries and museums containing every 
conceivable kind of record relating to the 
sacrifices and deeds of their respective peo- 
ples. Canada and Canadian provinces have 
done likewise, and since the United States 
entered the war a constantly growing num- 



ber of states have officially recognized the 
importance of collecting and preserving 
their local war records and have inaugu- 
rated statewide movements for the attain- 
ment of that end. 

The Minnesota War Records 
Commission. 

With these facts in mind, the governor 
recently appointed a body called the Minne- 
sota War Records Commission, whose duty 
it is to arouse in Minnesota a due apprecia- 
,tion of the value of her war records, to 
point out the great variety and extent of the 
materials which may properly be considered 
"war records," and to organize and direct a 
statewide movement for their collection and 
permanent preservation. 

To fulfill its mission completely, the Com- 
mission must look for the voluntary assist- 
ance of public spirited citizens in every 
community throughout the state. The gen- 
eral plan is to appoint a local representa- 
tive, or COUNTY CHAIRMAN, in every 
county, who will organize and direct the 
work of collecting that county's war records. 
In most cases the County Chairman will 
need the help of other local people whom he 
will associate with him as a COUNTY WAR 
RECORDS COMMITTEE, and as local rep- 
resentatives or committees in the outlying 
towns and districts of the county according 
to the particular circumstances. In both 
the work of organization and collection the 



Commission aims to keep in close touch 
with its County Chairman, offering sugges- 
tions and encouragement and receiving re- 
ports from time to time on the progress of 
the work. 

The organization of the counties is now 
in progress. The response to the Commis- 
sion's appeal, together with independent 
suggestions and comment appearing daily 
in the columns of our newspapers, indicates 
that the time is ripe for the launching of a 
"war records drive" in this state. In fact 
the action of the Commission has been an- 
ticipated in at least one Minnesota county, 
Freeborn, where the register of deeds on 
his own initiative has for some weeks been 
gathering data on the individual military 
records of the soldiers from that county. 

What Is Meant by War Records. 

Broadly considered, Minnesota's war rec- 
ords may be held to include all the material, 
of whatever variety of origin, content, or 
form, which in any way relates to the lives 
and deeds of Minnesota men in the military 
service, to the many forms of civilian war 
service performed locally, and to the altered 
course of life in Minnesota communities 
during the war period. The Commission, 
therefore, urges the collection and preserva- 
tion of the following broad classes of mate- 
rial : 



1. Military Service Records. 

Materials relating to the history of mili- 
tary units, training camps and schools 
where Minnesota men have been gath- 
ered in numbers. 

Individual records of the men from each 
county in the military service of the 
federal and state governments during 
American participation in the World 
War. 

For compiling these records the Com- 
mission has prepared a form of record 
calling for specific information about 
the individual soldier's military career, 
and about his civil status before and 
immediately following his term of serv- 
ice. A copy of this form will be sup- 
plied by the Commission for every sol- 
dier included in this class. 

Individual records of such men from each 
county as served in the armed forces of 
foreign belligerent nations at any time 
during the World War from its begin- 
ning in August, 1914. 

A modification of the above-mentioned 
form will probably be used in compiling 
these records when the number and dis- 
tribution of these men is ascertained. 

Of equal importance with the com- 
piling of the above formal records is 
the collection of individual and group 
photographs of Minnesota soldiers and 
sailors, their letters from camps and 
from overseas, newspapers and other 
publications issued at camps or by 
units where local men were found in 
numbers, diaries, photographs of mili- 
tary scenes, souvenirs, insignia, tro- 



phies, and other ready-made records of 
their life in tlie service. 

2. Records of the War Services of Individual 

Civilians. 

Individual records of such men and 
women from each county as engaged in 
nonmilitary forms of national or state 
war service outside the county, such as 
work for the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., 
Food Administration, or Department of 
Justice. 

A special form may be used in com- 
piling these records when the number 
and distribution of the people in ques- 
tion is ascertained. 

3. Records of Home Community War Activi- 

ties and Conditions. 

Directory of all local agencies and of all 
local branches of state and national 
agencies in each county engaged in war 
activities, including the names ard ad- 
dresses of officers and of leading agents 
or workers, and the names of members 
where practicable. 

In addition to being of historical 
value, such a record will be of imme- 
diate service to the war records organ- 
. ization in locating and collecting the 
ready-made records described below. 

Written reports upon the war activities 
of the various local agencies, organiza- 
tions, and institutions, and upon the 
progress within the county of the more 
or less informal and slightly organized 
movements of the period, with special 
attention to cases where adequate rec- 
ords of the ready-made variety indicated 
below are not available. 



Ready-made records of local activities. 

By "ready-made" records is meant 
that sort of material which is produced 
independently of the war records or- 
ganization, in connection with the ac- 
tual conduct of the activities m ques- 
tion These records have only to be 
gathered or preserved Following are 
suggestive lists (1) of agencies pio- 
duSfng such records and (2) of various 
forms in which they ^PPear By re- 
ferring from each item m one hst to all 
the items in the other, one may gam a 
working conception of the ready.riade 
records to be found m greater or less 
quantity in every community: 



(1) 



RECORD PRODUCING AGENCIES. 



Official. 

Public safety organ- 
ization 
Food administration 
Fuel administration 
Draft boards 
Employment bu- 
reaus 
Liberty Loan com- 
mittees 
W. .S. S. campaigns 
Recruiting offices 
Regular local au- 
thorities 



Semi-official. 

Red Cross 
Y. M. C. A. 
War Camp Commu- 
nity Service 
Jewish Welfare 

Board 
Y. W. C. A. 
Knights of Colum- 
bus 
Salvation Army 
American Library 

Association 
Boy Scouts 



Non-official. 



Public meetings 
Patriotic societies 
War relief enter- 
prises 
Americanization 

committees 
Loyalty leagues 
Churches and 

religious (Societies 
Schools and colleges 
Political parties and 

candidates 
Libraries 
Women's clubs 
Fraternal organiza- 
tions 
Hyphenated associa- 
tions 



Commercial bodies 
Professional socie- 
ties 
Labor organizations 
Farmers' clubs 
Printing shops 
Photographic 

studios 
Banks and trust 

companies 
Business firms 
Factories and mills 
Mining companies 
Public service cor- 
porations 
Individuals 



In explanation of the comprehensive char- 
acter of the foregoing list, with special ref- 
erence to the non-ofRcial agencies named, 
it may be pointed out that the records of 
these agencies will be needed for informa- 
tion not only about the part taken by a com- 
munity in the war, but also about how the 
community was itself affected by wartime 
conditions, with respect to its education, re- 
ligion, commerce, finance, politics, industry, 
agriculture, living conditions, customs, hab- 
its of thought, and other matters of vital 
interest. 



10 



(2) VARIOUS FORMS OF READY-MADE 
RECORDS. 

Printed Matter. 



Books 


War songs 


Newspapers 


Sermons 


Magazines 


Addresses 


Pamphlets 


Proclamations 


Handbooks 


Appeals 


Bulletins 


Posters 


Directories 


Placards 


Constitutions 


Handbills 


Ordinances 


Circular letters 


Resolutions 


Catalogs 


Programs 


Price lists 


Memorials 


Advertisements 


Honor rolls 


Recipes 


War poetry 


Blank forms 


Librettos 


Letterheads 


Manuscri 


pt material. 


Minutes of proceed- 


Letters of individ- 


ings 


uals 


Correspondence 


Household budgets 


files 


Farm records 


Written reports 


Manuscripts of 


Account books 


speeches, poems, 


Personal diaries 


songs, etc. 


Pictoric 


il records. 


Photographs 


Drawings 


Kodak views 


Paintings 


Motion pictures 


Maps 


Films and plates 


Cartoons 


Sketches 


Hand-made posters 


Mementoes. 


Badges 


Souvenirs 


Pins 


Medals 


Banners 


Trophies 


Pennants 


Military 


Service flags 


equipment 



11 



•Some of this material may at first thought 
seem commonplace and even trivial, but 
that that will not be the case fifty or a hun- 
dred years from now will be appreciated by 
everyone who reflects upon the interest at- 
taching to the relics of Civil War days and 
of the period of the American Revolution. 

Suggestions for County War Records 
Committees. 

The Commission makes the following very 
general suggestions for the guidance of the 
county chairmen and committees in organ- 
izing the counties and formulating plans of 
campaign at the outset, leaving the details 
of special problems for consideration in cir- 
cular letters to be issued by the Commission 
from time to time as the work progresses. 
The local committees will at all times, how- 
ever, be encouraged to apply the suggestions 
of the Commission with whatever modifica- 
tions the peculiar needs of the local situa- 
tion may call for. In fact the succesis of the 
movement will depend very largely upon 
the initiative and resourcefulness shown by 
the local organizations in solving their own 
special problems. The Commission's chief 
concern is the getting of results. 

Personnel of Committees. 

It is suggested that county chairmen in- 
clude on their committees such people as 
librarians, teachers of history, editors, and 
representatives of leading war agencies in- 
cluding local draft boards. 

12 



Division of Work. 

The war records work in the county 
should be so divided that each active worker 
have one or more definite tasks to perform. 

A good plan, if enough people can be in- 
terested, is to divide the county into sec- 
tions small enough so that each section can 
be canvassed by one person and to assign to 
some person the responsibility of collecting 
all the varieties of data and records avail- 
able in that section. This is the method 
used by the "block system" type of organ- 
ization and is particularly serviceable for 
getting at the sort of data and records to be 
found for the most part in private homes. 

Or the work might be divided on the basis 
of classes of records, distributing among the 
workers the responsibility of compiling the 
data on the war services of individuals and 
of collecting the classes of ready-made rec- 
ords severally designated on page 12 above 
as printed matter, manuscript material, pic- 
torial records, and mementoes. 

Again, in collecting the records of home 
community war activities, each worker 
might be asked to collect all the available 
records relating to the war activities or 
condition of a few specified local agencies, 
organizations, or institutions. 

Other methods, perhaps involving com- 
binations of the foregoing, will suggest 
themselves to the county committees. 



13 



Co-operating Agencies. 

County committees will do well to make 
full use of the special facilities afforded by 
other local organizations and institutions 
such as the local branches of the public 
safety organization, draft boards, commer- 
cial clubs, public libraries, schools, churches, 
newspapers, pioneer associations. Red Cross 
and D. A. R, chapters. 

The local newspapers may be of special 
service in giving to the work the publicity 
so essential to any movement depending 
upon the interest and co-operation of large 
numbers of people. The writing of articles 
and notices for publication locally might 
well be made the special business of some 
member of the county committee. 

From local public safety associations, 
county boards, commercial clubs, interested 
individuals, or from other possible sources, 
the county committees ought to be able to 
obtain assistance in defraying such ex- 
penses as the successful conduct of the 
work may entail. County committees in 
other states have in many instances been 
thus aided. 

As the Minnesota Public Safety Commis- 
sion is backing the war records movement, 
its county directors will doubtlesis co-oper- 
ate with the local war records committees 
to the extent of their ability. 



14 



Collection of Records. 

While the program of the Commission 
calls for the collection of all available war 
records in each county, it is desirable that 
first attention be given to those described 
as follows: 

Military service records of men from each 
county in the service of the federal and 
state governments during American partici- 
pation in the war (see page 8). The blank 
form supplied by the Commission for the 
records of men of this class should be 
filled out and completed in each case as 
soon as circumstances permit. The desired 
information may be obtained from the 
draft boards, from the families and friends 
of the soldiers, from the soldiers them- 
selves, or from any other reliable source at 
hand. 

Records of special wartime agencies 
which have completed or will soon com- 
plete their work. An immediate canvass 
should be made of the situation with re- 
spect to the records of these agencies with 
a view of securing samples of every bit of 
printed or other matter issued by them for 
general distribution, and of acquiring, when- 
ever possible, the custody of their office 
files and records. 

Newspapers. The local newspaper is the 
most comprehensive record of local activi- 
ties and conditions. Files of all newspapers 
published in the county during the war 

15 



should therefore be secured. If such files 
are not already on deposit in the libraries 
or other public depositories of the county, 
they should be made up of files or copies 
secured as soon as possible from the pub- 
lishers, from individuals, or from whatever 
source obtainable. If possible, duplicate 
files should be secured for the purpose of 
clipping and making into scrapbooks the 
articles and items of local war Interest. 

Printed and other publicity matter issued 
by all the various local agencies listed 
on page 12. Much of this material is 
ephemeral in character and is likely to dis- 
appear soon after its momentary practical 
usefulness is over. Early visits to the local 
printing shops, where samples of job work 
are usually allowed to accumulate for some 
time, will probably yield much material of 
this description which has not yet been de- 
stroyed. It may also be picked up here and 
there in the community if a careful search 
is made now. 

Photographs and kodak views. Popular 
interest in the war records work may be 
greatly stimulated by the early collection 
and display of pictures illustrative of local 
war activities. Both the professional and 
amateur photographers of the county should 
be urged to contribute such pictures, care- 
fully dated and labelled, to the county war 
collection. 



U 



Disposition of the War Records. 

As a general rule the Commission will 
encourage the county committees to use 
such of the records collected by them as 
are chiefly local in character in the building 
up of COUNTY WAR COLLECTIONS, if the 
necessary arrangements can be made for 
their proper care and preservation locally. 
Usually the leading county library, the 
courthouse, or other local depository will 
afford the necessary facilities. The mili- 
tary service records, however, for which 
forms are supplied by the state, are to be 
sent ultimately to the Commission, though 
county committees are urged to provide 
similar records for the county collections. 

There will also be built up a STATE WAR 
COLLECTION composed in general of rec- 
ords relating to the war activities of the 
state as a whole. This collection will in- 
clude records emanating from the state 
headquarters of the various agencies and 
interests in the state, together with repre- 
sentative material relating to war activities 
and conditions in the several communities 
of the state. County committees are there- 
fore asked to forward to the Commission 
all material secured by them which is of 
more than local significance, or which for 
any other reason should be filed in the main 
collection. The local committees are also 
urged to send to the Commission such du- 
plicate local material as may be gathered 

17 



in the course of building up the county col- 
lections. All records acquired by the Com- 
mission will be deposited with the state 
collection already begun by the Minnesota 
Historical Society, in the Historical Build- 
ing at St. Paul. 



18 



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